Is Australia Post's downhill service stuffing up our ebay sales?

[797_cc]

Let's face it ... Australia Post have gone to the dogs with rising costs, longer delivery times, missing parcels, stolen items and the use of unreliable contractors instead of their own employees. It's like the postal system of a third world country.

Sick of waiting 8 days for something that used to take 2, for items to be delivered/arrive. Have had contractors not even bother to try to deliver items to myself or my buyers, rather just drive past and flag 'unable to gain access' ... I have seen them do it!

Parcels opened and resealed, damaged, missing ... and higher charges for slower service. Anyone else worried about their feedback taking a battering?

[lyndal1838]

---

@wildwood5012 wrote:

HI

I agree a lot of times it is with the seller not posting on time.

You would be suprised at the amount of smaller sellers who have to wait till payday to post.

Not smaller sellers  I am one myself but the sellers new at this shall we say.

I have found AP very good and my parcels always brought to the door.

I cant actually see the workers having the time to interfere with parcels.  But will say quite often parcels are treated roughly

But one should bear this in mind when packing.

---

I can't quite see how this answer has any bearing on what I have said in any of my posts but you are correct....the average postal worker does not have time to interfer with parcels.

As for rough handling....AP makes it clear that items shoud be packed well enough to withstand being dropped from shoulder height and well enough to withstand having 20 kgs dropped on it from roughly the same height.

[ggearstore]

---

@4green2000 wrote:

---

@davewil1964 wrote:

Allegedly, according to the horse's mouth (AP website), deliveries won't be slower.

Priority - 1-4 days

Regular - 2-6 days. The same as it's always been

---

did myself a test...

posted 5 letters (with empty a4 paper inside) to myself on the 6th jan.

3 were posted as regular mail ($1.00 stamps) and 2 with priority stickers ($1.00 stamps plus priority sticker 50 cents) on them.

from a city/town 250km away.

result was,all 3 regular ones came on 12th jan and 1 priority came yesterday 15th jan. the other priority letter still not turned up.

in the good old days these would of turned up the next day using regular mail at 70 cents. so whats going on?

---

I'm in a rural area, the biggest change for us was the cutting of staff and having everything except local mail sent to sydney for sorting. It now takes over a week to send to a town less then 50kms away.

The most recent change is already effecting us, we are still getting non delivery messages from Parcels sent back on January 4. Many of which are from the same state. 

Ebay & Australia Post is really not helping with their unrealistic estimated lead times.

[chameleon54]

---

@4green2000 wrote:

---

@davewil1964 wrote:

Allegedly, according to the horse's mouth (AP website), deliveries won't be slower.

Priority - 1-4 days

Regular - 2-6 days. The same as it's always been

---

did myself a test...

posted 5 letters (with empty a4 paper inside) to myself on the 6th jan.

3 were posted as regular mail ($1.00 stamps) and 2 with priority stickers ($1.00 stamps plus priority sticker 50 cents) on them.

from a city/town 250km away.

result was,all 3 regular ones came on 12th jan and 1 priority came yesterday 15th jan. the other priority letter still not turned up.

in the good old days these would of turned up the next day using regular mail at 70 cents. so whats going on?

---

Well thats an interesting little experiment. I might try that myself as I am going away on the weekend.

[lyndal1838]

I received a letter on the 18th which was posted from the next suburb on the 7th January by standard post....11 days.

In the past the same letter has been delivered next day or at the most 2 days.

[gumnutandwattle]

Not trying to be mean but are you secretly an Aust Post Employee, my partner sent his mother a large parcel, it arrived and it had been opened and half the goods gone, then clumsily resealed.  Yes this does happen in our country.  Have you not seen articles on the television and in newspapers about Aust Post employees who have stolen parcels.  There have been at least 2, I can think of in the last 2 years, and they are only the ones who have been caught.

[*tippy*toes*]

Well that's a nice change from being accused of being a secret eBay employee. I doubt an Australia Post employee would post on a public forum using their trading account. It seems that the general consensous with newbies to this forum is if someone isn't constantly bagging an organisation out, they must work for them. Those kinds of accusations are so old amongst the regulars on this forum. Sheesh.

[lyndal1838]

---

@gumnutandwattle wrote:

Not trying to be mean but are you secretly an Aust Post Employee, my partner sent his mother a large parcel, it arrived and it had been opened and half the goods gone, then clumsily resealed.  Yes this does happen in our country.  Have you not seen articles on the television and in newspapers about Aust Post employees who have stolen parcels.  There have been at least 2, I can think of in the last 2 years, and they are only the ones who have been caught.

---

No, I am not an Australia Post employee.   There is no secret about the fact that I am married to a StarTrack SubContractor...StarTrack is owned by Australia Post.  When I was working  I was a subcontractor with AaE, also part owned by AP

Are you implying that I am standing up for Australia Post?  If so, then you are off track completely.

What I am standing up for is all the honest AP workers who are being tarred with the same brush as the dishonest ones. 

I don't need to see the TV or read the newspapers to know that there are occasional thefts.....but I also see what happens when the recipient reports the damaged parcel/missing contents....instant dismissal with no discussion.

I have also seen how some parcels are packed and it is no wonder that posties and contractors have to repair the parcels....then of course they are blamed when the contents go missing,

You have seen reports of 2 contractors who have been caught stealing parcels.....there are thousands of contractors who would never dream of doing that but you are tarring them all with the same brush.

If the general public takes the time to report lost and damaged parcels to the right authorities the postal workers and contractors will be dealt with appropriately.   In the case of StarTrack contractors....instant dismissal.

The ebay boards are not the correct place for those reports and mouthing off here will not see the bad postal workers disciplined....all it does is destroy the reputations of the good workers who do go the extra mile for their customers.

[zanadoo_56]

I have a good postie in my area and the regular AP parcel contractor is very good (....unfortunately there's another worker there who isn't so good which is a pain).

I definitely have an issue with the big sorting/delivery centres.....what an eye opener tracking is when you see your purchase take a scenic tour around the city or around the country (and according to some customers around the planet) before you (hopefully) finally get your item.  That's when they bother updating the tracking.  Sometimes your purchase just sits and sits.....and sits.....or eventually it is moved on but the tracking hasn't been updated and when you try to find out what is happening it is suddenly 'lost'.....which might or might not be true.

And let's not forget some Post Offices (and some are legendary) where the staff are very surly and unhelpful.  I especially like the ones who receive a request to transfer a parcel and a week later it is still hasn't moved.  I used to get good results from phoning customer service when things looked like going pear shaped (or had already) but now it takes ages just to get through to a human to explain the problem.  Arrgghh.

It's al very well for eBay, sellers, buyers etc to want/expect accountability by tracking or signature required....but once the parcel reaches one of AP's mega sorting centres, frankly you've just got to hope and pray it will all work out.

[mitbri]

I agree

[amber-eyed-girl]

It takes at times 20 minutes to get through, but then they are helpful at getting mystery stalls back on track. When I need to call AP I make myself a cup of tea and put it on speaker.